CARDIFF: Captain Sarfraz Ahmad and his men survived a Sri Lanka scare to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy here on Monday. Chasing a modest target of 237, unpredictable Pakistan’s batting line-up once again suffered a collapse but Sarfraz with fast bowler Mohammad Amir not only kept the wickets but also helped their team reach home for the loss of seven wickets. Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets. Sarfraz produced a superb captain’s innings following a top-order collapse to see his team reach the last-four stage. Pakistan, chasing a seemingly modest target to win, collapsed to 162 for seven. But an unbroken stand of 75 between Sarfraz, dropped twice on his way to 61 not out, and Amir (28 not out) saw Pakistan complete a thrilling win. They will return to Sophia Gardens for a last-four clash with tournament hosts England in Cardiff on Wednesday. Pakistan started their group campaign with a woeful 124-run defeat by arch-rivals India but bounced back to defeat top-ranked South Africa before this success against Sri Lanka. India will play Bangladesh in Thursday’s second semi-final at Edgbaston, with the final at the Oval on Sunday.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to field first. The decision paid off as Sri Lanka collapsed to 236 all out in the Asian rivals’ must-win group match. The two left-armers, Amir and Junaid Khan, ripped the heart out of the Sri Lankan middle order as they went from 161 for 3 to 167 for 7. It was superb fast bowling, evoking comparisons with some of the greats of Pakistan cricket. Both sides needed a victory to join already qualified title-holders India from Group B in the last four of a tournament featuring the world’s top eight one-day international sides, with the losers knocked out. Sri Lanka were making steady progress at 161 for the loss of three scalps while top-scorers Niroshan Dickwella (73) and skipper Angelo Mathews (39) were at the crease. But the loss of Mathews sparked a middle-order collapse that saw four wickets lost for just six runs as Sri Lanka slumped to 167 for seven. Only same late tail-order hitting, with the last three wickets adding 69 runs, got Sri Lanka past 200 in an innings where Pakistan pacemen Junaid (three for 40) and Hasan Ali (three for 43) did the bulk of the damage. Prior to their middle-order slup, Sri Lanka lost two wickets for one run to be 83 for three. Medium-pacer Fahim Ashraf also struck on his ODI debut when Dinesh Chandimal played on for a duck.